Category Archives: leadership

A real Leader is not an energy leech when it comes to High Level Energy – in fact he/she is the very source of Energy people come to to re-energize to, themselves. A leader knows to draw that energy from his big and noble goals.

Below I have listed a few “energy holes” through which precious Energy gets depleted:

Poor Sleep hygiene. This comes from a lack of routine – if you have a routine in place, you will go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time every day without use of the alarm clock. Recharge your “batteries” via a constant mechanism of energy replenishment.

Complaining. This point is easily eliminated if your remember my Leadership 101 affirmation, where I ask that you affirm (and vow) to be in the position of strength at all times – you are the pillar of strength for yourself and others, and the time to be weak is when you are alone, at the dark of night. You are the pillar of strength, the source of energy, AND you are now the catalyst of change. Always be striving and demanding changes that are necessary in order to succeed.

Anger. Don’t lose your cool – “be the mountain” per Leader 101 on my Affirmations page. – Anger has a special bookmark in my book, because I consider anger to be a holy, almost a sacred feeling, it is our “protector” so you can identify with it because you as a leader are a protector too. In fact if you are not feeling a little bit angry, if you are a bland person who has got nothing to prove to anybody, then you cannot be responsible for this world. You need to take a back seat and enjoy the view. Anger is the driving force of passion, so I actually want you to foster a little bit of anger but ON THE INSIDE. When I say anger as a “black hole” of energy, I mean angry outbursts – not lack of FIRMNESS. If you want to be a leader you’ve got to be able to be angry (on the inside) but remain calm and composed on the outside. Remain calm and yet firmly demand “the best results”. However, yelling, screaming, crying and stomping feet belongs on the WEAKNESS page, and not on a leader’s resume. If you want to influence others and cannot control yourself, you are not a leader. Got short fuse? Work on yourself, record yourself, be constantly improving!

Bragging/gossiping. When I say bragging, I don’t mean don’t be marketing yourself or constantly raise your ratings. But when you’ve got a goal to achieve and you’ve done a baby step#1 towards it, don’t go around town telling the irate villagers every little detail of your “master plan”. They’ve got problems of their own. This is childish, foolish, this comes off as seeking approval – and seeking approval is not for leaders. Learn to generalize details, joke and be humorous, and brag not.

Asking for help. Asking for help equals helplessness, and helplessness equals lack of responsibility. You need some growing up to do if you are constantly seeking help and asking questions. You as a leader ARE the person who people come to seek help FROM. You are the one asked questions, for you must hold all the answers, be a bit of a psychologist, motivate others for achievement and help them to step over their stones of impediment.

Asking for permission. A leader can “Marshall the assets” and declare a military regime…a leader can decide to thwart things that don’t work, throw away and liquidate things that hog down the resources. Strip away, minimize, and reform the structure that outlived itself. Do you need to ask permission for that ? No, because inevitably you are bound to step on people’s feelings, the key is to realize that you have a common goal and that goal TRUMPS the initial losses that might be felt at first. Without pain, there’s NO GAIN. You are not a clown – you didn’t come here to this dire situation to give everybody a candy! Let’s face it, change can be drastic. It can be painful, yes. But change is necessary to push forward and break through the walls of ignorance. You don’t need a permission to do that, but you can talk about it and make people feel better about it.

Feeling lost. You can feel lost on the inside, but you are a leader and suppose to LEAD the way…You know HOW to get somewhere, but people are not always going to trust you right away. Don’t lose faith. A temporary feeling of being “lost” is only a temporary hurdle, it doesn’t mean that the solution is not within your grasp, but simply that at this moment in time you don’t know “everything” yet. Don’t underestimate the power of Market Research and user polling. Figure out what people want, what is it that you are not aware of? The information is not always at your fingertips, but there are people who would be happy to point to the destination. Like a good detective, you must find out everything! Do your research and find out what have worked before, who is the person who has the skills you are looking for. What have produced outstanding results in a way that you demanded? Just because something is not immediately obvious, shouldn’t stop you from finding it.

Wasting time and resources. A true leader appreciates his/her and everybody else’s time and understands the power of focus on things that matter. If something is not working, wastes your time, wastes your money, STOP doing it. If something IS making you money but doesn’t get enough credit, recognize it. In other words, don’t water the weeds – only water plants that give you fruit.

And lastly what IS energy? Energy is the horses of your attention. If they are scattered like the wild jumping leapfrogs, going wherever they please, there will be less of it. If you keep the horses of your attention focused and in control – you will have more “energy”. For example. Let’s take Jill. She was very productive today. She checked her email, answered phones, solved family problems… She was all-achievement and yet, due to lack of energy, all her goals and dreams remain an impossible task. For no matter what she did not how many blind dates she went on, she never met a person who even remotely looked like “the one”. Now take a look at Jack. He seems very focused on only attending work and developing strategies for his new department. He has an abundance of energy and therefore, he was promoted at work within a month. The horses of his energy were tamed. In fact when he got distracted, Jack consciously redirected them to one path – a path that was worthwhile to spend the energy on. You see, energy is both like horses AND like money. We are very conscious that we don’t buy everything we see in sight or we’d go broke. We spend money “wisely” and prudently. And yet, how easily we give our attention to everything and anything around us? The cute kittens YouTube videos? The rants on Facebook and Twitter? The countless hours of mindless TV watching or listening to gossip in the office ?.. If only you knew that with each such activity, you spent a precious “dollar” of your energy – a dollar that was actually going to get you closer to achievement. Would you waste it so easily?…

Welcome to all my wonderful readers! Today, I will talk about a topic that all of us have stumbled upon at some point or another in our lives. An identity crisis – no, not a crisis, but an identity question. Bear with me – for I am not FINDING NEMO – I am FINDING MYSELF!!!. We are perpetually seeking to discover self. Finding myself in life, my place amongst the society without losing all of myself in the societal goals, and finding my voice, my goals, my source of energy and drive is the perpetual task that never ends. For I truly find MYSELF only in the pursuit of my goals. For that, I seek goals that are ambitious, grandiose, massively and globally scaled to outlive me and even outlive my century. This kind of goal drives me to become a better person, but WHO is the person that I want to become?.. I will share that with you today, perhaps you will recognize some of the features in you (or put them on YOUR wish list). This exercise is important because it helps us realize our strengths and weaknesses. Once we know our weaknesses, we can go on a mission to DESTROY them.

But today lets forget about weaknesses…I will focus on developing qualities I DO WANT – the technique of repeating affirmations states that I should read this list 4-5 times every morning (NOT evening, because our minds are fully engaged at night and will simply filter this information out as garbage…our morning minds are receptive to suggestions because they are ready for you to fall back asleep…thus the usual filtering is turned off! I know this first hand , because years back, when I was renting an apartment in Athens Greece, I knew very well not to open the door to strangers. HOWEVER, once I heard the knock on my door at 6 AM, my “caution sirens” didn’t go off and I opened the door to find the POLICE at my door!!! Apparently there was a robbery at my floor and they wanted to question me. Had I not opened the door, obviously, I would had been spared questioning, but oh well…I was a good citizen so I told them I snored right through the night and heard absolutely nothing…)

QUALITIES I WANT TO FOSTER IN MYSELF:

Organized. (To the point that my organizer is filled to each minute of the day weeks, months ahead)

I Always stay calm and composed, I AM A MOUNTAIN susceptible to all weather conditions, I don’t let anything rattle my inner ocean. I remain calm and never get upset in harshest of storms/ life situations – harsh conditions “test” my inner strength, and I want to PASS THE TEST!!!. Afterwards, I can smile about it.

VERY decisive. I AM decisive and opinionated but I need to make my decisions quicker and for that I need to sit down and foresee the scenarios in which I might have to make future decisions, so that I already have an opinion about something. A real leader, like a chess master, can precipitate several moves ahead and has a vision for the future: a wonderful vision sprinkled with details and clarity. I am that person who always has a solution for a future problem and who can bring out that vision the FASTEST!!!

Constantly set goals and precipitate problems and their solutions. I am a person of the FUTURE.

Work on my image – I am someone memorable, I always look good, so need to constantly work on improving my image and be constantly driving my ratings UP!!!.

I have big ambitions. I have that ‘greater vision’ that elevates me above everyone else.

I have high levels of energy and can stand up for my opinions. I accomplish that by being inspired by my goals, exercising, and being confident and positive. (It means eliminating negative people)

BE RESPONSIBLE not just for myself but those who surround me (no matter their societal position) by assuming my own leadership at all times. I accomplish that by imagining that people’s lives depend on me and I need to be able to step up at any moment and save them, protect them/their rights, even without their permission, even if it means that I have to protect them from themselves (WHEN I FORESEE HARM). “I know better” and I will use my internal compass of right and wrong at all times.This leads me to be more selective with people I allow to surround myself with – these people have to be strong, healthy, capable problem solvers, and people I can honestly allow to represent me.

I am an attentive listener and I know how to give meaningful praise to motivate people. In order to know more about people I ask the right questions, I learn what motivates them, I learn what they value (their values), what do they want to be recognized for. Real leaders know how to elevate and lift other people’s spirits.

I have the ability to influence people, to compel people to make the right choices, to help them make decisions, I am liked and trusted.

I am a teacher, I teach people – people love to learn – so I tap into their learning channel to teach them better ways to accomplish their goals.

I avoid “unsure” vocabulary ( phrases such as “I don’t know”, “Maybe”, “Possibly” “I think” , “I’ll try”) and use confident vocabulary: Fantastic! I understand you Perfectly. Yes, of course we will! Absolutely. Certainly! Rest assured! No problem. I believe so! I am saying it confidently. With all my heart. It is a proven method. Consider it done. Definitely. Totally. In all certainty. Alright, decidedly so. Easily. Unquestionably, undeniably, indisputably. Honestly. Credibly, in all honesty, in full disclosure. Usually, obviously, completely. Really, for real, in reality. I know it will happen. I have it under control. I will find out. When opportunity presents itself.

I combine 4 animals in me – the Lion (for charisma and invulnerability), the Snake (for ability to eliminate enemies and fire or let go of people who no longer serve me), the Fox (for being clever and diplomatic), and the Dove (for having a spotless “holy” image, mitigating but being above conflicts, and ability to see the big picture/see ahead).

I usually take the invulnerable position of strength and I am a good actor — I know how to act out situations to illustrate them/tell stories and scenarios to illustrate my point of view. I am entertaining, I have a great sense of humor and I can make people laugh about themselves. Or, I can scare people so they can realize dangers they haven’t seen before.

I combine softness and harshness – I am also very sincere, I talk sincerely and from the heart.

….What about you?What are the 4 animals you relate to the most and WHY, what qualities do you like about them?

As usual I’m glad you enjoyed my inspirational post and you too can now take a moment to create YOUR OWN list of qualities you can foster in your life. The number is not important – it can be 1, 2, 8 or even 15 qualities – what’s important is that you are committed to making a change for the BETTER in your lives!!!

Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t – either way, we are all faced with big and small responsibility in our daily lives. There are people who can take responsibility for many people – there are those who are fond of responsibility. Then, there are people who are only responsible for themselves (the vast majority). Then, there are people who can’t take responsibility even for themselves. Sounds familiar?

But here where it gets into a gray area – I am going to throw a curveball at you, because Life gave me a valuable lesson during this Solar Eclipse. And the lesson is: whether you realize it or not, it this:

We are ALL responsible for each other.

In my example, I went to the gym and I saw an older friend being pushed ‘too hard’ by a trainer, as a result he has suffered a stroke – a dehabilitating disease which will require therapy and a long time to recover. Had I SPOKEN UP, complained to the gym management, and exercised my LEADERSHIP skills, I could have prevented this. So I feel partially responsible – because my ego chose to say: “It’s none of my business”. Well guess what? It IS my business. If you know in your heart that something is right, you have to SPEAK UP, and you have to react fairly quickly. You have to be strong and exercise your right of a leader – you may not be “liked” for this, oh no. But you may save a life.

If, for example, a person you don’t know (or barely know) is crossing the street next to you, and a huge truck is suddenly approaching, it inevitably becomes up to YOUto save that person (to stop them, to shout, or even to restrain/tackle them if needed). If a friend is making irresponsible choices in life by doing drugs, drinking, or being in an abusive relationship, it’s up to YOU to take a stand, to speak up, and to do WHAT IS RIGHT – what is right may or may not be something that will make this person immedeately happy (if fact, expect them to put up a resistance) – but in the long haul we know in the heart of hearts and we see (the big picture of it), what is best for that person.

You know, Jesus too could have just preached to the ‘good people’ and avoided all those stupid, ignorant sinners who don’t care to change their lives. Yet, he preached to all and ESPECIALLY to the sinners, because this is who he came to save after all – the ‘lost’ sheep. So where am I going with this? Leadership is a God-like quality which needs to be cultivated. It can start in your own backyard: be responsible for yourselves, by all means! Make the holy trinity all balanced out: the mind, the body, the spirit. But then, also don’t be BLIND to the world around you. Don’t rely on others to ‘know whats best for them’, or think that it’s not your place to butt into other’s lives, just because they hold a superior position, are your parents, your bosses, your seniors. If Jesus thought that, he would probably just be a farmer or a fisherman minding his own business. And yet, Jesus and the Lord are our leaders, because they care for all of us, big and small, at all times, not when they feel like it.

You will see me come back to this topic time and time again (and sprinkling more examples) but the main message, I hope, is clear: whether or not the person next to you is a friend, a parent, a recognized authority, a person older than yourself – ALWAYS, and I repeat always, choose to be the responsible party, a leader rather than the led one; instead of relying on them to be responsible for themselves. Take charge, speak up, and don’t be afraid to voice your opinion loud and clear, and be the best leader you can be. Leadership doesn’t end at work, at home, or in a ‘set environment’. It’s the role that should be natural at all times…. its not like the hat you wear: let it be an essential part of you, like a heart or a liver.

And on this note, I end this post and let yo enjoy your Friday afternoon – life is BEAUTIFUL!!!

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Short Intro

Dear visitor!
Today, less and less people take care of their bodies. And it's very sad. Sometimes they make an excuses like "there's no time", or "No money" or "No desire". Or they will tell themselves: Tomorrow I will sign up for the gym membership. And they go, and sign up, but they never go the day AFTER tomorrow. People just lie to themselves and to the world. Why did I create this site? I wanted to fire up people to take care of their bodies and to work out - they are not alone in their struggles, and the road to becoming healthier is not as hard as it seems. You don't need to spend thousands on personal trainers - its enough to have dedication. Our body is a sacred temple, and if we fortify it then it will serve us for many years to come. It's not vain nor obsessive to love yourself - LOVE OF SELF is our gift from God. How can we love others if we don't love ourselves?..
This site is also about my ponderings and musings about what makes life balanced and fullfiling - after all, tranformation happens on all levels - and I write about life as it happens to me and the lessons I take away from its many challenges.
Maybe after visiting this site people will stop smoking and drinking, and will start working out. At least I would like to believe that I have helped somebody. Visit me often - I am constantly renewing and pressing new content!
Phoenix.